Security application for a guest operating system in a virtual computing environment

ABSTRACT

Hypervisors and guest operating systems/virtual machines communicate in virtual environments to enable applications and other services. Security measures are a concern in implementing a secure environment. One feature may include at least one of identifying a session initiation request from a guest operation system at a hypervisor component of a server and receiving periodic messages from the guest operating system, and establishing and maintaining a session and connection between the hypervisor and the guest operating system responsive to receiving the periodic messages from the guest operating system.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to security in a virtual computing environment,and more particularly, to enabling guest operating systems to operate asecurity platform application while accessing a virtual computingenvironment.

BACKGROUND

Security tools are often hacked by malicious software operating on aninfected computing device. An attacker may try to uninstall the securitytool, bypass its protection mechanisms, or render it useless by removingportions of its required resources. In order to reduce the likelihood ofsuch attacks, security tools may be utilized which include a protectingkernel resident module that guarantees the device integrity as well asthe integrity of the system resources being utilized. However, anattacker who gained sufficient privileges (i.e., root or administrativedepending on the operating system) can attack kernel modules as well.

Various security APIs implement a security channel to enable a ‘securityvirtual machine’, however, this approach does not provide protectionagainst certain attacks, such as with respect to a guest virtual machine(VM). Also, hypervisor components are generally not included to assureprotection of the guest VMs.

Certain previous approaches to implementing security measures include anumber of guest OSs operating on one or more hypervisors. Suchapproaches focus on detecting errors in the running guest OSs, decidingwhether the fault is local to a single OS or to others and selectingcorrective actions accordingly. Such actions may include a restart of asingle OS or a migration to a different hypervisor if the errors arereported from two or more guests, thus pointing to a fundamental problem(i.e. not local to a single OS).

Other approaches include a distributed and coordinated security systemproviding intrusion detection and prevention for virtual machines (VMs)operating in a virtual server. This may include passing a packet streamthrough an associated networking driver of a virtualization platform andfiltering the packet stream in a security platform of the guest virtualmachine. However, this approach fails to identify an attack on the guestOS or vulnerabilities exploited through legitimate traffic. Theapproaches to detecting removal of security agents operating on guestoperating systems are limited in scope and could be potentially overcomeby attackers seeking access to virtual resources.

SUMMARY

Hypervisors and guest operating systems/virtual machines communicate invirtual environments to enable applications and other services. Securitymeasures are always a concern in implementing a secure environment. Oneexample may include identifying a session initiation request from aguest operation system at a hypervisor component of a server. Also, theexample may include receiving periodic messages from the guest operatingsystem, and establishing and maintaining a session and connectionbetween the hypervisor and the guest operating system responsive toreceiving the periodic messages from the guest operating system.

Another example embodiment of the present application may include anapparatus that provides a processor configured to perform at least oneof identify a session initiation request from a guest kernel module at ahypervisor component of a server, and initialize a session between theguest kernel module and the hypervisor component. Also, a receiverconfigured to receive periodic messages from the guest kernel module,and where the processor is further configured to maintain the sessionbetween the hypervisor component and the guest kernel module responsiveto the periodic messages received from the guest kernel module.

Another example embodiment may include a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium configured to store instructions that whenexecuted cause a processor to perform at least one of identifying asession initiation request from a guest kernel module at a hypervisorcomponent of a server, initializing a session between the guest kernelmodule and the hypervisor component, receiving periodic messages fromthe guest kernel module, and maintaining the session between thehypervisor component and the guest kernel module responsive to receivingthe periodic messages from the guest kernel module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration diagram of a virtual environmentaccording to an example embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system communication diagram of a datacommunication between a guest operating system and a hypervisoraccording to an example embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2B illustrates a system communication diagram of a datacommunication between an administrator and a hypervisor managementcomponent and guest kernel module according to an example embodiment ofthe present application.

FIG. 3 illustrates a logic flow diagram of a security procedure withinthe virtual environment according to an example embodiment of thepresent application.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system configuration configured to perform one ormore of the example embodiments of the present application.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network entity device configured to storeinstructions, software, and corresponding hardware for executing thesame, according to example embodiments of the present application.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example configuration diagram of a virtualenvironment for multiple heartbeat requirements being assigned accordingto another example embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system communication diagram of a datacommunication between a plurality of guest operating systems and ahypervisor according to another example embodiment of the presentapplication.

FIG. 8 illustrates a microvisor management configuration which operateswith heartbeat messaging criteria according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a system signaling configuration of the microvisorconfiguration according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentapplication, as generally described and illustrated in the figuresherein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following detailed description of theembodiments of a method, apparatus, and system, as represented in theattached figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the applicationas claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of theapplication.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the applicationdescribed throughout this specification may be combined in any suitablemanner in one or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases“example embodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification refers to the fact that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the presentapplication. Thus, appearances of the phrases “example embodiments”, “insome embodiments”, “in other embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the samegroup of embodiments, and the described features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” has been used in the descriptionof embodiments of the present application, the application may beapplied to many types of network data, such as, packet, frame, datagram,etc. For purposes of this application, the term “message” also includespacket, frame, datagram, and any equivalents thereof. Furthermore, whilecertain types of messages and signaling are depicted in exemplaryembodiments of the application, the application is not limited to acertain type of message, and the application is not limited to a certaintype of signaling. In addition, the communication between thehypervisor(s), guest operating systems, guest kernel module(s) (GKM)and/or the hypervisor management components(s) (HMC) may include directand/or indirect information sharing via a shared memory or otherinformation sharing mechanism.

Example embodiments provide hypervisor and virtual machine guestoperating system (OS) configurations with tamper detection for guestprotection. An attack on a machine may be discovered through a suddendisconnect of a cryptographic heartbeat communication protocol. Inoperation, the heartbeat messages may suddenly stop being sent from theguest OS and received via the hypervisor due to removal of the guestkernel module (GKM). In such a scenario, when the GKM is completelyremoved it cannot report any kind of error voluntarily. Therefore, theheartbeat message detection and lack thereof serves to maintainintegrity between a hypervisor and guest OS configuration.

Components of the hypervisor and the kernel modules in the guest OS willindicate whether there are additional components added by thehypervisor. Additionally, listing those components and communicationchannels between the hypervisor and the guest OS will indicate whethersuch communication between those entities is active. The hypervisorcomponent is distinct from the guest OS infrastructure and may detecttampering of the guest OS security components and enforce any applicableanti-tampering protection policy.

FIG. 1 illustrates a virtual network diagram with various virtualcomponents according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1, avirtual configuration 100 includes a hypervisor 120 as a fundamentalvirtual environment component which further includes a hypervisormanagement component (HMC) 122. Another layer includes the guestoperating system (OS) kernel 114A and 114B where a guest virtual machinecan be identified and authenticated by the hypervisor 120. The guest OSs114A and/or 114B may receive a request to install guest kernel modules118A and 118B, respectively, which include heartbeat protocol criteriaincluding but not limited to the heartbeat message requirements (i.e.,packet size) and/or specified frequency criteria (i.e., heartbeatmessage specifications and number per time interval). A guest OS userspace 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, etc., may then install an agent 112A,112B, 112C and/or 112D as directed by the hypervisor so the heartbeatcriteria can be established to begin updating the hypervisor 120 basedon the frequency requirements, which may include one message per aspecified time interval. The installation of the agent may be performedby the hypervisor by initiating the guest OS with the agent uponboot-up. Each instance of the guest OS may have its own agent.

The heartbeat protocol criteria may include a cryptographic heartbeatwhich is also provided when the guest OS 114A, for example, begins toboot-up and is detected by the hypervisor 120. A guest kernel module(GKM) 118A, for example, is then installed and is provided with arandomly generated secret key for communication with the HMC 122. TheGKM 118A stores the key securely in its private memory and obfuscatesits location. The HMC 122 and the GKM 118A communicate using ahypervisor provided communication mechanism such as event channels.Messages over the channel(s) are encrypted with an authenticatedencryption protocol using the shared key provided at boot-up. Theencryption protocol provides at least one of confidentiality, integrity,authenticity and a replay protection. The GKM 118A uses the encryptedchannel to send security events to the HMC 122. The GKM 118Aperiodically sends a heartbeat message over the encrypted channelaccording to a predetermined schedule. In one embodiment, the schedulecan be set at any time. If the HMC 122 notices that the GKM 118A stopssending heartbeats it can react by either attempting to revive theactivity via the OS and/or alert a designated administrator and/or oneor more computers (which include a processor and memory) in a networkaccessible by the administrator of a possible attack by the guest OS114A.

The information shared between virtual components of the virtual systemmay reside in shared memory spaces and other shared informationlocations which could be used to communicate between guest operatingsystems, hypervisors and other virtual system components. For example,XEN communication standards could be used to exchange data, which couldbe a 1-bit flag or pointer, to identify information stored in the sharedmemory spaces including but not limited to security threats alerts andheartbeat messages. The event channel may be the basis for utilizing1-bit information sharing between virtual elements of the virtualenvironment.

Hypervisors can be used to ease the deployment and management of serversand workstations. As a hypervisor operates at a lower layer than a guestOS's kernel, an adversary executing in the context of a guest OS cannotaffect the hypervisor. As a result, a security or protection tool thatis assisted by hypervisor resident code is shielded from such attacks. Ahypervisor resident component may be used for installing the protectiontool within compatible guest OSs as well as processing output andguaranteeing normal operations. The security tool may be split into twocomponents, executing at different layers with one component operatingin the hypervisor which is safe but independent of the guest OS (i.e.,processes, memory, file systems). The other component operates in theguest OS, which is more vulnerable but has visibility into the OS. Thehypervisor 120 injects the guest OS component into the guest OS tomitigate attacks within the guest OS, which tries to remove securitytools that can interfere with the attack's progress. For example, whenthe guest OS 114A boots, the GKM 118A is added. The HMC 122 and the GKM118A use a communication mechanism, such as event channels, throughwhich regular, signed, heartbeat messages are sent and received. Thecommunication protocol guarantees authenticity and resiliency. If theHMC 122 notices that the GKM 118A stops sending heartbeats, it canrespond by either reviving the guest in an OS specific manner and/oralerting the administrator as this inaction can be an indication of amalicious attack.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system configuration diagram 200 of a securitycommunication session between a guest OS 210 and a hypervisor 212according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2A, the guest OS 210may initiate communication via a virtual session setup operation 222.The hypervisor 212 may receive a request to communicate 224 from theguest OS 210 and may respond by identifying 226 the guest OS viapredefined credentials stored in memory identifying the guest OS 210. Anagent extension component 228 may then be forwarded to the guest OS 210for installation 232. The guest OS 210 may then be required to submitperiodic heartbeat messages 236 during an active session with thehypervisor 212. The hypervisor 212 will receive the heartbeat messagesand apply predetermined frequency criteria 238 to ensure the messagesare received in the correct time frame.

During a virtual environment setup/configuration, the guest OS 110A/210communicates with the hypervisor 120/212, and the guest OS 110A boots aguest kernel module (GKM), which is installed by the HMC 122. Followingthe installation, the GKM 118A receives a randomly generated secretshared key for communication with the HMC 122. The GKM 118A stores thekey in its private memory and obfuscates the location to reduce thelikelihood of unwarranted access. The HMC 122 and GKM 118A communicateusing a hypervisor 120 provided communication mechanism, such as a XENevent channel. All messages over the channel are encrypted with anauthenticated encryption protocol using the shared key provided atboot-up of the guest OS 110. The encryption protocol providesconfidentiality, integrity, authenticity and replay protection. The GKM118A uses the encrypted channel to transmit (security) events to the HMC122. Also, the GKM 118A periodically transmits a heartbeat message overthe encrypted channel.

FIG. 2B illustrates a system communication diagram of a datacommunication between an administrator and a hypervisor managementcomponent and guest kernel module according to an example embodiment ofthe present application. Referring to FIG. 2B, in this communicationconfiguration the administrator 260 receives alerts when thecommunication between the HMC 270 and the GKM 280 falters or morespecifically fails to maintain a periodic heartbeat communication. Inoperation, the HMC 270 will initialize the communication with the GKM280 with a key 252. The key can be used to encrypt various communicationmessages shared between the GKM 280 and the HMC 270. Thereafter, theheartbeat messages 254 may begin and continue per the agreed heartbeatprotocol standard of sending and receiving of regular heartbeatmessages. A security alert may be created and transmitted by the HMC 270at any time to indicate whether there are any security threats presentbased on various security management criteria, such as unexpectedactions, prolonged periods of time when no heartbeat messages arereceived, etc. In one example, a security alert 256 may be forwardedand/or created by the HMC 270, which forwards the security alert 258 tothe administrator 260 for any reason related to a potential securitythreat. The GKM 280 may begin transmitting heartbeat messages 262, 264,in succession at a predetermined frequency interval (i.e., every 30seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc.). The absence of heartbeat messagesafter a predetermined period of time 266 may be detected by the HMC 270.When the HMC 270 identifies that the GKM 280 stopped sending heartbeatsthe HMC 270 may response by either attempting to revive the GKM 280 viaan OS specific command and/or alerting the administrator device 260 of apossible attack on the guest. In this example, the HMC 270 may attemptto reinstall the GKM 268. The security alert 272 indicating the absenceof heartbeats may then be sent to the administrator 260 to relay theabsence of the heartbeats and the potential security threat.

A heartbeat(s) may be identified as a set of messages between two ormore network elements that are repeatedly sent in order to guaranteethat the connection is open and confirmed and that the sending party isstill functioning. Any “cryptographic” message is signed using apre-shared key by the sending party, and this may reduce 3^(rd) partiesfrom forging the messages. The signed content includes a timestamp toprevent replay attacks. The shared key between the guest OS 210 and thehypervisor 212 may be based on any known form of encryption. Thesecurity events may be any type of event the GKM 280 considers asbearing some security related significance. For example, launching newprocesses, opening new connections, editing certain files, etc., may allbe considered elevated security risks which require an audit of activesecurity. The guest OS 210 will send heartbeat messages throughout thetime of boot-up until shutdown. This ensures that the GKM code isrunning.

The operations of the instant application may be performed by checkingan encrypted element in a host virtual environment by a native operatingsystem (hypervisor) by installing a protected guest operating systemcomponent extension during booting of a virtual environment by thenative operating system (OS) hypervisor. The protected extension issuesa signed heartbeat message periodically via a secure protocol. Thehypervisor may monitor the signed heartbeat message by a native OSaccording to a frequency criteria (e.g., after a certain number ofseconds, minutes, hours, etc.), and responsive to detecting an absenceof the signed heartbeat message within the frequency criteria, a firstaction may be performed by the native OS to facilitate avoidance ofnefarious activity such as tampering in the virtual environment. Resultsand actions may include providing a notification, terminating thevirtual environment, and rebooting the guest operating system with areplaced protected extension. Also, an application monitoring process inthe virtual environment may be provided for validating integrity of theprotected extension and integrity of the virtual environment, andresponsive to detecting a corruption of the protected extension, asecond action may be performed to reduce effects of the corruption. Thevirtual environment could be a virtual machine (VM), a logical partition(LPAR), and/or a work load partition (WPAR).

FIG. 3 illustrates a logic diagram 300 of at least one operationincluded in a guest OS setup and compliance function in a virtualenvironment. Referring to FIG. 3, an initial virtual environment setupoperation 312 invokes a hypervisor notification operation 314 to requesta session via a communication channel. The hypervisor may then forwardthe agent 316 a plug-in agent which is installed/setup 318 so heartbeatmessages may begin updating the hypervisor of the guest OS status. Theheartbeat is received 322 and the hypervisor is notified. Also, thehypervisor is notified in the event of the heartbeat message not beingreceived. In this case, the frequency criteria 324 will be identified toensure the heartbeat was supposed to be received. As a result, in oneembodiment, the session is terminated 326 to protect the virtualenvironment form a non-compliant guest OS.

FIG. 4 illustrates a hypervisor system 400 configured to perform one ormore of the steps described or depicted herein. Referring to FIG. 4, thehypervisor system 400 may be a single computer (such as a server), otherdevice (that includes a processor and memory) or multiple computers ordevices which support the operation of the security measures of thevirtual environment. The system 400 includes a session initiation module410 which receives a guest OS invite or request to enter a virtualsession. A session processing module 420 may receive the request andprepare a response that includes an agent module being sent to the guestOS for installation. The session processing module may also processheartbeat messages received to validate the responses accordingly. Astatus update module 430 may ensure the heartbeat criteria is maintainedaccordingly and may store and update records of the guest OS and thesession in a databank 440.

One example method of operation performed by the hypervisor system 400may include identifying a session initiation request at the sessioninitiation module 410 from a guest kernel module at a hypervisorcomponent of a server and initializing a session between the guestkernel module and the hypervisor component via the session processingmodule 420. The method may also provide receiving periodic messages fromthe guest kernel module, and maintaining the session between thehypervisor component and the guest kernel module responsive to receivingthe periodic messages from the guest operating system via the statusupdate module 430. The update module 430 may also perform transmittingan agent application to the guest operating system responsive toreceiving the session initiation request. All information pertaining tothe session may be stored in the databank 440.

In one example, the hypervisor component of the server is the hypervisormanagement component (HMC). The system 400 may further providedetermining a prolonged period of no periodic messages received, andnotifying an administrator device of a potential security alert. As aresult, the guest kernel module may be reinstalled responsive todetermining the prolonged period of no periodic messages received. Theperiodic messages received from the guest kernel module are heartbeatmessages which are periodically transmitted from the guest kernel moduleto the hypervisor component according to a predetermined time interval.The interval may be based on frequency criteria applied to the heartbeatmessage as specified by the HKM.

The steps described or depicted in connection with the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, firmware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in one or more of theabove. A computer program may be embodied on a non-transitory computerreadable medium, such as a storage medium. For example, a computerprogram may reside in random access memory (“RAM”), flash memory,read-only memory (“ROM”), erasable programmable read-only memory(“EPROM”), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a compact diskread-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any other form of storage medium knownin the art.

Such a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that theprocessor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example, FIG. 5 illustrates an example network element 500, whichmay represent any of the above-described network components, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a memory 510 and a processor 520 may bediscrete components of the network entity 500 that are used to executean application or set of operations or steps as described or depictedherein. The application may be coded in software in a computer languageunderstood by the processor 520, and stored in a computer readablemedium, such as, the memory 510. The computer readable medium may be anon-transitory computer readable medium that includes tangible hardwarecomponents in addition to software stored in memory. Furthermore, asoftware module 530 may be another discrete entity that is part of thenetwork entity 500, and which contains software instructions that may beexecuted by the processor 520. In addition to the above noted componentsof the network entity 500, the network entity 500 may also have atransmitter and receiver pair configured to receive and transmitcommunication signals (not shown).

Although an exemplary embodiment of the system, method, and computerreadable medium of the present application has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the application is not limitedto the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit orscope of the application as set forth and defined by the followingclaims. For example, the capabilities of the system of the variousfigures can be performed by one or more of the modules or componentsdescribed herein or in a distributed architecture and may include atransmitter, a receiver or both. For example, all or part of thefunctionality performed by the individual components or modules, may beperformed by one or more of these modules. Further, the functionalitydescribed herein may be performed at various times and in relation tovarious events, internal or external to the modules or components. Also,the information sent between various modules can be sent between themodules via at least one of: a data network, the Internet, a voicenetwork, an Internet Protocol network, a wireless device, a wired deviceand/or via plurality of protocols. Also, the messages sent or receivedby any of the modules may be sent or received directly and/or via one ormore of the other modules.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example configuration diagram of a virtualenvironment for multiple heartbeat requirements being assigned accordingto another example embodiment of the present application. Referring toFIG. 6, the configuration 600 includes agents 612A, 612B, 612C and 612Dwhich may be managed by the hypervisor 640 via the hypervisor managementcomponent (HMC) 642 to setup the guest kernel modules (GKMs) 620A, 620B,620C, 620D, 620E and 620F to provide different heartbeat criteriamessaging to the hypervisor 640 according to customized heartbeatcriteria (HBC). Also, each guest OS 610A, 610B, 610C and 610D may haveits own assigned respective agent. Additionally, the first GKM 620A mayhave a heartbeat requirement of every 20 seconds 630A, the next GKM 620Bmay be instructed to provide heartbeats every 25 seconds 630B, while theGKM 620C is required to provide heartbeats every 23 seconds 630C, andthe GKM 620D is required to provide heartbeats every 27 seconds 630D andthe GKM 620E is required to provide heartbeats every 29 seconds 630E andlastly the GKM 620F is required to provide heartbeats every 22 seconds.The criteria is unique for each GKM and may be randomly assigned by theHMC 642. The HBC is stored in a profile for each GKM so large groups ofassignments can be organized and maintained for a growing capacity ofGKMs in a virtual environment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system communication diagram of a datacommunication between a plurality of guest operating systems and ahypervisor according to another example embodiment of the presentapplication. Referring to FIG. 7, the example 700 includes theadministrator 760 receiving any security alerts 758/777 from the HMC 770of the hypervisor. The GKMs 780 represent a pool of GKMs being managedsimultaneously. In operation, the HMC 770 may initialize a first GKM620A with a particular key and set a first HBC requirement 752.Similarly, the second 620B and third 620C GKMs may be required to beginfollowing a HBC requirement 756 and 758 customized for their securityand the security of the virtual environment. A security alert 754 may besent at any time to alert the administrator of the new GKM requirementsand any potential threats identified. The heartbeat messages 762 and 768may follow and the HBC may be checked in a profile for each GKM storedin the HMC 770 for compliance with the customized intervals to receivethe heartbeat messages. When there is no heartbeat received for aprolonged period of time 766, for example, in this case, the third GKM620C has failed to maintain its heartbeat period requirement, then theHMC 770 may attempt to create an alert and notify the administrator 760via a security alert 772 and/or reinstall the GKM 774.

FIG. 8 illustrates a microvisor configuration for providing security toa virtual environment. Referring to FIG. 8, the microvisor 810 operatesoutside of the guest OS 115A and 115B. The microvisor 810 is setup toprovide virtual instances to users in a virtual environment on atask-by-task basis 812A, 812B, 812C and 812D. In the virtualconfiguration, the tasks may be any application, such as a MICROSOFTOFFICE application, a .pdf document application, a web browser, an emailapplication, etc. The task(s) is initiated and requires customizedresources 814A and/or 814B from an operating system or kernel 115A/115B.Resources may include a network port/session to communicate with otherentities, memory, CPU allocation, or any other resource associated witha virtual environment operating in the cloud.

Each task managed by the microvisor may be configured as a single microvirtual machine or micro-VM. The various micro-VMs may correspond to asingle task and may provide a secure environment where a user mayinteract with the task in an isolated micro-VM workspace thatcommunicates with a remote virtual operating system. A task includes allprocessing both within the application and within a kernel of theoperating system that is required to offer resources necessary for thetask to operate. For example, initiating a web browser or MICROSOFTOFFICE application tab or a PDF document can be considered an individualtask.

This task separation and isolation format of the microvisor or micro-VMsprovides protection from any attempted change or unauthorized access ofinformation made by an outside party. For example, a micro-VM haslimited access to protected information and the network in general whichis likely not accessible at all beyond the use pattern of theapplication operating in the micro-VM. Also, a micro-VM may identify andlog all information accessed and attempted to be accessed by the user toprovide a details of a potential attacker including network traffic,file access attempts and changes that were attempted to be made bymalware on the operating system or file system.

FIG. 9 illustrates a system diagram that includes an operationalscenario of the microvisor 980 being managed by the operatingsystem/kernel for security purposes. Referring to FIG. 9, theadministrator 760 may be a point of contact for any security alerts 972.However, the operating system 970 may manage the microvisor tasks byproviding resources needed to perform the discrete tasks in exchange fora heartbeat protocol compliance measure. The task may be started and amicro-VM may initiate for the duration of the task use. For example, themicrovisor 980 may initialize a first task 952, such as an applicationfor word processing or a web browser. As a result, the operating system970 may identify certain resources necessary for the first task tooperate in the microvisor environment and allocate those resources 954and require a first heartbeat criteria (i.e., frequency of heartbeats,etc.) 956 to be maintained by the task or else the resources will bevacated and the task will fail to operate.

In a further example of FIG. 9, a second task 958 may be spawned by themicrovisor responsive to user criteria which requires additionalresource allocation 962 for the second task and which will, in turn,require compliance with another heartbeat message criteria 964 asrequired by the operating system 970. In the event that there is noheartbeat received for a certain period of time (i.e., time allocated bythe heartbeat criteria for task 1, task 2, etc.), then the process 966will require an alert be created and sent to the administrator 760.Also, a task restart 974 may be performed to attempt to bring the taskback to a compliance measure of the guest operating system. The lack ofa heartbeat message after a predetermined period of time may equate toan application crash within the micro-VM instance. The remedies mayinclude killing the micro-VM instance, restarting the application andreinstalling the micro-VM instance to initiate continued compliance withthe micro-VM.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a personal computer, a server, a console, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tablet computing device, a smartphoneor any other suitable computing device, or combination of devices.Presenting the above-described functions as being performed by a“system” is not intended to limit the scope of the present applicationin any way, but is intended to provide one example of many embodimentsof the present application. Indeed, methods, systems and apparatusesdisclosed herein may be implemented in localized and distributed formsconsistent with computing technology.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in differentlocations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, random access memory (RAM), tape, or any othersuch medium used to store data.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

It will be readily understood that the components of the application, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended tolimit the scope of the application as claimed, but is merelyrepresentative of selected embodiments of the application.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theapplication as discussed above may be practiced with steps in adifferent order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations thatare different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although theapplication has been described based upon these preferred embodiments,it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certainmodifications, variations, and alternative constructions would beapparent, while remaining within the spirit and scope of theapplication. In order to determine the metes and bounds of theapplication, therefore, reference should be made to the appended claims.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the application is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when considered with a full range ofequivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices,software platforms etc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: identifying a sessioninitiation request from a guest kernel module at a hypervisor componentof a server; initializing a session between the guest kernel module andthe hypervisor component; receiving periodic messages from the guestkernel module; and maintaining the session between the hypervisorcomponent and the guest kernel module responsive to receiving theperiodic messages from the guest kernel module.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising transmitting an agent application to the guestoperating system responsive to receiving the session initiation request.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hypervisor component of the serveris a hypervisor management component (HMC).
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising at least one of: determining a prolonged period of noperiodic messages received; and notifying an administrator device of asecurity alert.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising attemptingto reinstall the guest kernel module responsive to determining theprolonged period of no periodic messages received.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the periodic messages received from the guest kernelmodule are heartbeat messages which are periodically transmitted fromthe guest kernel module to the hypervisor component according to apredetermined time interval.
 7. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising at least one of: applying frequency criteria to the heartbeatmessages; and monitoring whether the heartbeat messages are receivedaccording to the frequency criteria.
 8. An apparatus, comprising: aprocessor configured to: identify a session initiation request from aguest kernel module at a hypervisor component of a server; andinitialize a session between the guest kernel module and the hypervisorcomponent; and a receiver configured to receive periodic messages fromthe guest kernel module; wherein the processor is further configured tomaintain the session between the hypervisor component and the guestkernel module responsive to the periodic messages received from theguest kernel module.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising atransmitter configured to transmit an agent application to the guestoperating system responsive to the session initiation request beingreceived.
 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the hypervisor componentof the server is a hypervisor management component (HMC).
 11. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured todetermine a prolonged period of no periodic messages received, andnotify an administrator device of a security alert.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to attempt toreinstall the guest kernel module responsive to the prolonged period ofno periodic messages received being identified.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 8, wherein the periodic messages received from the guest kernelmodule are heartbeat messages which are periodically transmitted fromthe guest kernel module to the hypervisor component according to apredetermined time interval.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein theprocessor is further configured to apply frequency criteria to theheartbeat messages, and monitor whether the heartbeat messages arereceived according to the frequency criteria.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform: identifying a sessioninitiation request from a guest kernel module at a hypervisor componentof a server; initializing a session between the guest kernel module andthe hypervisor component; receiving periodic messages from the guestkernel module; and maintaining the session between the hypervisorcomponent and the guest kernel module responsive to receiving theperiodic messages from the guest kernel module.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor isfurther configured to perform transmitting an agent application to theguest operating system responsive to receiving the session initiationrequest.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 15, wherein the hypervisor component of the server is a hypervisormanagement component (HMC).
 18. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform at least one of: determining a prolonged period of noperiodic messages received; and notifying an administrator device of asecurity alert.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to performattempting to reinstall the guest kernel module responsive todetermining the prolonged period of no periodic messages received. 20.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinthe periodic messages received from the guest kernel module areheartbeat messages which are periodically transmitted from the guestkernel module to the hypervisor component according to a predeterminedtime interval and wherein frequency criteria is applied to the heartbeatmessages, and used to monitor whether the heartbeat messages arereceived according to the frequency criteria.